C.P. Crane LLC and its parent company, Raven Power Marketing LLC, applied Nov. 13 at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for approval to sell C.P. Crane and its power plant near Baltimore, Md.
Raven has agreed to sell, and Middle River Power LLC has agreed to purchase, 100% of the membership interests in C.P. Crane, which owns and operates a coal- and oil-fired facility located in the PJM Interconnection balancing authority area. Following the transaction, C.P. Crane will be a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of Middle River Power.
The applicants requested that the commission provide for a comment period no greater than 21 days and issue an order granting the requested authorizations no later than Jan. 22, 2016.
C.P. Crane owns a 399-MW (summer rating) coal- and oil-fired facility located in Baltimore County, Maryland. The CP Crane Facility also includes limited interconnection facilities necessary to interconnect the generating facilities with the transmission system controlled by PJM. CP Crane is authorized to sell electric energy, capacity and ancillary services at market-based rates. CP Crane also receives an annual revenue requirement from PJM for reactive power. CP Crane is an exempt wholesale generator (EWG). Raven is a subsidiary of Talen Energy (NYSE: TLN).
Middle River Power is a wholly owned, direct subsidiary of Avenue Energy Opportunities AIV LP. Avenue U.S. Partnership is directly owned by various financial entities. The General Partner is directly owned by GL Energy Opportunities Partners LLC. After this deal is done, CP Crane will no longer be affiliated with Raven.
The application noted that this power plant sale helps Talen achieve part of the market power mitigation requirements that FERC in December 2014 placed on the merger that created Talen Energy.
Talen Energy had announced Oct. 23 that it reached an agreement late the prior day to sell C.P. Crane to an affiliate of Avenue Capital Group. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016, following receipt of required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Goldman Sachs served as financial advisor to Talen Energy. Kirkland & Ellis was Talen Energy’s transaction counsel.
Avenue Capital Group is an established global alternative investment firm with approximately $13.2 billion in assets under management, as of Sept. 30, 2015.
Crane is a three-unit coal plant that went into commercial operation in the 1960s and used to belong to Baltimore Gas & Electric. U.S. Energy Information Administration data shows it getting coal earlier this year from Arch Coal‘s Black Thunder and Peabody Energy‘s North Antelope Rochelle mines in the Powder River Basin, plus some coal from CONSOL Energy‘s Bailey mine complex in Pennsylvania.
